


Big Bad World

by SpontaneousSquid



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fluff and Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-08-09 02:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16441382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpontaneousSquid/pseuds/SpontaneousSquid
Summary: Before Blitzen, Hearthstone's life was a tragedy. Before Hearth, Blitz's life was a bore. Together, they were a comedy, an action, an adventure, a mystery, and though neither of them would ever admit it, a romance. What follows is the tale of how two stories intertwined and flourished together.





	1. Big Bad World One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please tell me what you think! I hope you liked it, but if you didn't, don't feel like you have to lie about it. You're all wonderful and thank you very much for reading my story. Not sure if I'll continue this, but we'll see how it goes. Have a great day!  
> Also, all the chapter names are songs by an artist who does sad-but-kinda funny songs. I definitely recommend listening to them if you haven't already. Jonathan Coulton is the lyricist and most times, the singer.
> 
> -A.L

HEARTHSTONE

I more than aware that I wasn't perfect. I was about as imperfect as they come. I was dysfunctional and broken. People didn't like broken things. They took them and put them outside in the dumpster to rot. They burned them. It didn't take me long to realize that was where I was headed. What was I worth if one of my five senses was completely muted? Why hadn't I been dumped out or burned yet?

In the mirror, I could understand why Mother and Father looked at me differently than Andiron. He looked like a proper elf. He was tall and thin, with bright eyes and prominent cheekbones. Some people say we could have passed for twins, but I think they were trying to make me feel better. Elves were meant to be pale, but I was translucent in a sickly way. My cheeks were indented pits ever since I was nine years old. The eyes that looked so happy on Andiron looked nervous and flighty on me. Whenever I exited Father's property, I could feel people worrying for me. At least at home they didn't pity me.

I understood why Mother and Father told me I was imperfect. Why they gave me lists of things to do to prove that I had grown. It was all to make me perfect. I couldn't ever get there by myself, but maybe, just maybe if I could show that I could do other things well enough, my disability wouldn't hold me back so much. I used to question it; why I wasn't good enough and everyone else was. When Father explained it to me, well, he made sure I understood. That was back when I still had hope. He sat me down and told me, on a whiteboard: You will do what is expected of you. All you will ever be is a servant, if you are lucky. We are preparing you for your future, so do as I say. When I responded, I remember actually smiling. You're wrong, Father. I'm going farther. I'm going to change the world someday. He gave me a smile somewhat of disappointment and somewhat of disgust and he slapped my face. That was the first time I remember crying.

Andiron and I used to play in Father's woods when he and Mother were on business trips. We would pretend to be travelers that had to go on adventures together in order to save the nine worlds. Run! It's a fire giant! He would grin, with pure joy in his eyes. Run? Dear, Watson, we mustn't run from this beast, for I know precisely how to defeat it! We had found a Midgard book in Father's study and we used the names, since we were human travelers and we needed proper names. But Holmes! We'll never beat him! Well, that would end as would be expected from young, naive elves like ourselves.

Father always made me use my board to communicate, but I hated the damn thing. So objective and cut off from any emotional meaning behind the words. It upset me that I couldn't get the unspoken connotation of words that I would never hear. Andi taught me sign language. I was his older brother, yet he taught me so much. He did all of it to make me happy. The only selfless person in Alfheim...

Anyway, he noticed how much the board pained me and looked through the library for anything to help me. Mother and Father collected thousands of books, most of which they didn't know the contents of. So, when Andion found the book on Alf Sign Language, he was ecstatic. He never told me how long it took him to find it, but to sift through all those books, it could have been years.

We learned it together. It became our little secret and sometimes when Mother and Father weren't looking, we'd make silent knock-knock jokes and create stupid riddles that lit up my life every single day. When I was twelve, when I was fluent, I tried to teach Father. For that, he turned off the light in my room and locked me in.  
I was happy for a long time. Granted, my parents didn't call me 'dear' or tell me I was worth their spit, but I had Andi and that was all I really needed. When he died, everything turned upside down.

It was Ylir, December in Midgardian months. Mother and Father were both inside, and Andidron and I were playing outside. After wandering around in the forest for years, this was, surprisingly, the first time we ran across the well. We approached, curiously.

_It's a wishing well! _Andiron signed. _You go first. _____

_____ _

_____ _

_What? ___

____

____

_Make a wish! ___

____

____

His eyes gleamed and I couldn't very well say no, so I pondered what I would say.

_I wish for-- ___

____

____

_No! You can't tell me, Hearth! ___

____

____

He had this dumb nickname he made up for me. Mostly to make fun of me after he messed up signing my name, spelling out H-E-A-R-T-H and then the word for rock. I told him how to actually say it, but he always got fed up with doing the second half of the word. S, T, and N were very similar. I got used to the nickname and developed my own for him after reading what looked close to it in a Midgard novel. Andy. I ended up calling him Andi all the time. He hated it, but he also grew to love it.

_Why not? ___

____

____

_Because then it won't come true, silly! ___

____

____

I grinned. Tossing a red-gold into the well, I thought (very loudly and clearly): make my brother happy.

_Done. Your turn. ___

____

____

It took Andi ages to decide on a wish, so I rolled my eyes and signed: I'm gonna go work with my runes. Take as long as you need. He stuck his tongue out at me and laughed. He had gotten me the runes, too. I never knew from where. I walked about ten feet away from the well and faced the other way, just to rub it in that he took forever to decide on anything. It didn't take very long before I got bored and turned around to see if he was done.

Now, it's important that you know that our home was soundproof. Mother didn't want to put up with the noise of the outside world. In other words, Father and Mother couldn't hear Andi's screams. Neither could I. When I turned, the first thing I saw was an astonishing shade of blue. Then, red. Right before my eyes, I could see my perfect, innocent brother being ripped to shreds by an enormous monster. I screamed. Probably stupid-sounding pained noises came out of my mouth as something fogged up my vision. I couldn't think. I vaguely remember running home and yelling those same deaf screams at my parents and pointing to the general area where the well was.

By the time we got there, all that remained of Andiron Alderman was a pile of bones and blood that stained the blue-furred monster red. I fell to my knees and sobbed loudly, feeling the vibrations in my chest and the vocalization tearing my throat apart. My mind was so utterly silent but so painfully loud at the same time. It was like everything was screaming, but no words, nothing to help me feel like maybe there was some chance things would be alright again one day. I could hear nothing and my eyes were closed. When I had my eyes shut and all I saw was dark, it was like I had fallen out of existence. Nothing mattered when nothing was there. At least, that's the tiny comfort I was anchored to until I felt someone kick me in the ribs.

_Father, please-- ___

____

____

He hit me again. His gaze was empty, like the last bit of soul that was left inside of him had been sucked out. He must have killed the beast while I was crying. He stared at me like I was roadkill. Then, he left. Just like that. No yelling. No tears. I knew then that I truly was worth nothing to him. Any fantasy that he loved me had been snuffed out by the agony that my father left in his wake every time he spoke to me. Mother stayed by the dead monster for quite some time, but she eventually left. I, too left after about an hour. I started to enter the house, but Father stopped me.

"This is your fault," he said, ice as always.

I nodded.

"You will skin the beast. You will not sleep, eat, or enter this house until you finish. You will not be deemed worthy to do anything off this property or to communicate with anyone. When you eat, it will be alone, in your room. You will stay out of sight. You will have light in your room for five hours per day. Use them wisely. Do not break rules. Do not embarrass me. Do not cry. Do not use that hand waving you call language. These are the rules. This is how it will be and you will not be past these rules until not a single hair shows." Everything he said was like being cut with a scalpel. Each motion precise and calculated, the controller very aware of the effects. It hurt like hel. He passed me a board.

_Not a single hair on what? ___

____

____

"The beast's hide. After you skin it, you will cover it in gold. The way you will do that has been posted in your room alongside the rules. Do you understand?" I nodded. "Good." He passed me a knife and took the board from me. I started walking towards the beast. I bit my lip to keep from crying again and I started cutting. The laborious task took an exceedingly long time. Andiron was killed by this thing. My hands shook. Deep breaths. It took hours. It took every ounce of effort I had not to break down. It took my shallow, broken heart all it had to finish this. The only way I could begin to redeem Andi. When I was done, I put the skin out to dry in the sun.

I went back to the well one last time that day. I stared at Andiron's sad, barren corpse, trying to see any of my brother on it's face. I approached the well. The water at the bottom sent chilled air up to my face. I thought back to the wish I had made. Make him happy. Well, that was the end of my faith in wishing wells. Although, I couldn't help but wonder what he had wished for. I sighed. I set the othala rune next to the well. It was his. I considered leaving the whole bag of runes for him, but Father always said it was wrong to return gifts. Still, othala was his.

He deserved it. He deserved something. Anything. This was all I could give him that would mean anything, so I would unquestioningly give it to him. He was perfect. He was kind. He was clever. He was real. And now?

Now, he's dead. He's gone. The best thing in my life, in anyone's life has been swiped away by me. I may as well have murdered him myself. I killed him. My own damn brother! He's gone because of my disability! This thing I can't change. This thing that is the perfect metaphor for my existence. Ignorant. Worthless. A mistake. A failed attempt. The pain and self-hatred built up like a fire in my chest until it burst and unleashed its blue-white flames, destroying all it grazed.

My fist slammed against the stone before I could think. The searing pain of my bones being crushed was worse than anything I'd felt before. I smiled as the tears kept running down my cheeks. This awful pain that made me want to bury myself was exactly what I needed. It distracted me from any emotional pain I could be feeling instead. Everything was wrong, but my mind could only focus on my hand. I wept more. It was seeming like that was the only thing I could do right anymore.

About a month later, Father hired Inge. She had nice blonde hair and lovely green eyes. For some reason, every time she was around me, her cheeks turned pink.

"Do you think I'm pretty, Hearth?" She always signed as she spoke to make it easier for me. She had always been very kind to me. She had learned the language even though she had struggled an awful lot. I had asked her to use the nickname. 'Hearth', I mean. Said all my friends called me that, even if she was the only one of those I had.

_Yes, I think you're very pretty. _This would always make her blush even more.__

____

____

"Do you like me?"

_Of course I like you, Inge. You're my best friend! _A flash of quiet sadness would pass over her face before she smiled again. Had I said something wrong? I always said something wrong.__

____

____

"Yeah, okay. See you later!" And she'd leave. Just like that. I didn't know what had gotten into her. This happened on an almost monthly basis. At some point, she started wearing makeup and braiding her hair. I thought she looked silly with it, but I knew if I told her, she'd be upset and I didn't want to upset her. So, I told her she looked pretty.

She was the only person I told when I started planning to run away. Mother and Father would be on a business trip, so that wouldn't be a problem. From then, I'd just have to go to the first park bench on Erlynn street, open the portal and go.

"What if the police see you? Last time, Mr. Alderman put out posters and everything..."

_I know. I'll be careful. ___

____

____

"Will you come back?"

_Maybe._

__

__

I turned and started to leave, my only possessions were my clothes, 50 red gold, a water bottle, and my runes. I took a deep breath. This was it. My life was about to be so much better. Inge tapped me on the shoulder, a little too hard. Her face was flushed and she looked like she was going to cry.

"Take me with you." I smiled and hugged her.

_No. I can't. ___

____

____

The hope in her eyes drained.

_Too dangerous. I'll come back. Promise. ___

____

____

I felt beyond guilty with that. I wasn't coming back. Never. I pulled her in for a hug one last time. Then, with a single step out the door, I left behind everything I knew.


	2. Mr. Fancy Pants

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blitzen contemplates life and meets Hearth.

BLITZEN

As a seventeen year old dwarf, I considered Nidavellir my dream home. It was always nice and dark, plenty of craft supplies, and the people were good-hearted, even if their actions weren't as good. My family was good, too. My father was a strong man with a gentle smile and bright eyes. I remember his leading policy: always tell the truth. My mom and him met at a crafting convention. She, disguised as a mortal, found the rope making booth and asked for reigns for her horses. He made her reigns, and even though the horses turned out to be cats, she raved about them. The reigns, I mean. She raved about the cats, too, but I guess my dad mostly payed attention to her gushing about his rope. Anyway, apparently, she had come to his door in the same mortal form and... uh... made me.

I had no brothers or sisters aside from on Freya's side, where I had hundreds, so Dad dependedon me to be the perfect son. 

He worked at home. Rope making was the family trade and my father excelled at it. His reputation was literally out of this world. Saying that should probably make me feel some kind of pride, but all I got was shame. 

"One day, you'll be the one with the reputation. You'll be the one that people go to for their bindings. I'm so proud of you, my boy." I would smile as he ruffled my hair. For the better portion of my teenage years, I told myself he was right. I was quite good at making strong rope, but I didn't have any love for it. Honestly, I never understood his passion for making _rope_ of all things. I mean, a big part of life as a creator was the creative side of things and I just didn't see where that aspect came in with rope. Sometimes, I would dig up used clothes and extra material from the dumpster (I know, I know. Dumpster diving really isn't me, but it was a dark patch in my life) and sew it into shirts and vests. I learned to embroider intricate designs on them and after a while, I got pretty damn good. One time-- I still swear he said he would be gone for a while-- he caught me and my art. His eyes went wide for a second, but he stopped himself from any scolding. He picked it up, examined it, silently noting the craftsmanship and the little details. 

Eventually, he spoke. "This... this is very good work, Blitzen."

"Thanks, Dad." I smiled. It was enough to know that he was _trying_ to accept what I loved. It could certainly be much, much worse. 

After a few months of thinking it through, he started to fully accept me. He bought me a sewing machine for my birthday, along with a gift card to the nearest fabric store. There weren't very many of those, too. The closest was two hours away, but it was something. I was fifteen, then. I passed my free time sketching out ideas and sewing. 

I ended up learning more about fashion in school. The course was offered, but only eight people actually took it. Most of the others were doing it to be funny or to be kind to the teacher. Either way, I was the only one with a bona fide passion for it. I generally prefer humility, but I was pretty damn good at fashion. 

Overall, I was pretty content. Then, Junior found out about my love for apparel. "A disgrace", he would call it. I don't want to go too much into it, but he called me a lot of things. It hurt. I think the one that hurt the most was "fag". I didn't know why it made me flinch every time I heard it. I was gay, but letting something so small as a word get to me like that just made me more upset with myself. Not that it was small. It was a big deal. It's not a... nice word, to say the least, but I wish I wasn't so weak to it. One time, I punched one of Junior's friends in the face for that. Heh, that was a good day.

I wish... I wish it had stayed like that.

"Dad, no," I was seventeen when my father left. "You can't just up and leave like that!"

"You're a big boy now, aren't you?" I rolled my eyes at his sarcastic humor. "Blitzen, you can take care of yourself. You don't need me around to baby you anymore. I'm only gonna be gone for the weekend and then you can go back to being a toddler. Besides, I'm just a rope maker, not some crazy adventurer. I'll be fine. I'm just going to check up on a project that needs to be fixed. Why don't you invite some friends over? Watch some movies, eat crap food. You've got the house to yourself." Well. If he had put it like that from the first place, we wouldn't be arguing.

I smirked. "Okay. Fine. If you won't have it any other way." We laughed together.

He left. I made pizza. My friend, Jamie came over and we watched _Game of Thrones_ (he was an outcast too. He liked to make tech, rather than armor or rope. He had fashioned a device that made it so we could access Midgardian television through our own. Pretty awesome, right? Yeah, that's Jamie.). There was a marathon going on HBO. I hadn't been able to get a hold of the latest episodes, so we would be forced to stay up until episodes we hadn't seen yet came on. We were getting close, nearing the end of season 6. 

Jamie was about a head shorter than me, and considering how outlandishly tall I was, he was about average height. His hair was a bunch of wild, dark curls that exploded like a lion's mane around his face. His skin was a silken, dark chocolate tone, his eyes still darker. Overall, he was beautiful. Sometimes, I'd ask myself if I thought I liked him (like, _like_ -liked him), but I honestly don't think I did. He was kind. He was funny. And _gods_ could he sing! I really liked him and a lot of people assumed they were in a relationship, but it really just wasn't like that. I was out to him, and in exchange, Jamie confirmed he was straight. 

_Wow_. That was a bit of a rant about how gorgeous and perfect my best (only) friend was.

"Hey, man. You okay? You spaced for a little bit, there." He grinned at me in a hidden worry kind of way.

"Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." I smiled back at him.

"Do you have any food?"

And thus, the next 12 hours were spent in front of the TV, mourning the stupid amount of characters who were given brutal deaths. 

He left the next afternoon and I spent the rest of the weekend doing fashion design. Actually, this time I didn't design anything to be worn, just sewed together a model, made of fabric and stuffed with sand. I used mop poles to keep it upright. It looked pretty sad, but vaguely humanoid at least. It got the job done. 

Sunday night is when I started to get worried. He still wasn't back. Dad was usually very timely about these projects. Besides, he said it was nothing big, so he should definitely be back by now. I sighed. There was nothing I could do about it until morning, so I'd have to wait and he'd certainly be back by then.

Dad didn't come back. I had to go to the local pub to work out what had happened to him. Some of his friends were having a drink together. When I approached them, there was first a look of surprise, then of pity. Some of the guys looked away from me, like I was just another problem to deal with and gods know that they had too many of those and it just wasn't a good time and--

"Where's my dad?" Gods, I sounded like a lost little kid.

"Uh..." one of them, a bald guy looked to the others for help.

"Tell him," said a man with a rose tattooed on his neck.

"He... aw, man. Listen, kid, your dad was a passionate guy. He knew when he was right. Sometimes--"

"I don't need the sentimental bullshit. Cut to it! Where is he?" My vision was getting foggy.

"Okay! Okay. Bili went to fix up the rope that was holding down Fenris Wolf--"

"What's that?"

"Big, scary monster. Don't worry about it. Anyway, he... he knew it was gonna be dangerous... Dammit, kid. He didn't come back." He paused for what seemed too long. I think he was asking if I was okay, or maybe rambling more, but I couldn't tell. All the colors of the world were blending together. All the sounds around me were distant. My chest hurt. I don't remember a whole lot between then and when I was retching in an alleyway. 

It felt like my life was over. Where would I go? I was still a minor and as soon as Social Services found out, I'd be taken to an orphanage. I could leave, but then the likelihood of me literally dying was way too high. Wouldn't bee too much of a jump from where I already was at, though. 

I sat down.

_Deep breaths. It'll be okay. It has to be._

My breathing picked up. It felt like the walls were closing in on me. What if I never saw Jamie again? What if I run out of money? What if I get beat up by Junior and his goons and didn't have anywhere to go? What if I run out of food? What if I--

_What was that?_

Something moved, on the other side of the alleyway. Something white and black and tall. Absurdly tall, good gods! Part of me hoped that they were okay, but I couldn't find the will power to ask, much less stand up. I rolled onto my side, facing away from the mysterious person. I pulled my jacket closer to me.

They clapped, once, softly. I rolled my eyes and curled up a bit more.

There came another clap. This one louder, shorter, almost desperate. I turned.

"Hey, buddy, are you okay...? oh no."

What I saw before me was someone who could hardly be described in any way aside from 'tragically beautiful'. One of those people that you know would have been gorgeous if they weren't broken down in a pained heap below you. He smiled in a giddy, almost drunk way, letting a stream of blood out of his mouth. It was hard to see because of the color of his clothes, but clearly new, dark red dye flowered across his side. More flecks of blood were coloring his translucent face and platinum hair. I couldn't see before because of the light, but there were tears streaming down his beautiful face and those untarnished grey eyes were surrounded by a striking pink.

I got up and walked over to him, the pain in my chest slightly less prominent now.

"What happened to you?" I mumbled. He stared up at me, silently. I reached towards him. "Here, let me help you--" He weakly swatted at my hand. "It's okay! It's okay. I'm not gonna-- Odin's beard! Listen to me, willya? I just want to help you." I put a hand on his elbow. Jamie had told me about an article he read. Apparently the most comforting place you can touch someone is the elbow. Something about the shoulder and hands both being too threatening or something.

He stopped fighting me. He stared at me, either in fear or gratitude. Maybe both. It looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn't. Why hadn't he spoken? Was he okay? Well, he obviously wasn't okay, but was he yanno... okay? 

Maybe I was imagining it, but I think he nodded. I squeezed his elbow lightly and let go.

"Can I take you back to my place and help you feel better? Shit, that's not what I... I didn't mean... I didn't mean make you feel better like _that_. I mean, that wasn't an innuendo. I'm not trying to get in your pants. But I am gay. Not that I'm trying to... Wait. You're an elf. I could build you a sunbed! It's no trouble. But I can't make it here. Can I carry you there? To my place, I mean? So that I can make you the sunbed? You don't look like you're in any state to walk." I breathed. "Okay?"

He had a hel of a smirk on, probably internally making fun of my wild rambling. He didn't complain when I picked him up, bridal style, and he didn't seem to mind when I took off his shirt to patch him up. Still, I couldn't help but think about the one burning question that couldn't leave my mind.

_Who the hel was this guy? And why was there an elf in Nidavellir? And why wouldn't he talk?_

(Yeah, yeah. That was three questions. I know. Don't worry about it.)


	3. Blue Sunny Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blitzen takes care of Hearth.

HEARTHSTONE

By the time I came to, the sun was up. It must have been early afternoon to be so perfectly warm and sunny. I closed my eyes, letting the warm light carry me away like stardust. 

Wait. I ran away. No sun shines like this except in Alfheim and Frey forbid I was still _there_. I reached up with my hands, finding a flaming hot, smooth surface surrounding me. How did this thing open? I _had_ to get out of here. I pushed against it, hard. My hands were burning. There was steam coming from them. I moved my hands. I felt my breathing speeding up. I pounded on the sides of the thing with my hands balled up into fists in a desperate attempt to get out.

It opened. I rolled out, landing painfully on the floor after a two foot drop. I used my hands to sit up, recoiling in pain when I was reminded about my new injury. My chest hurt, too. My head was throbbing. My arms, bent at the elbows held me up. I felt so weak. Something touched my knee. A hand. I opened my eyes, which I hadn't realized were closed, revealing a dark room with a short, dark skinned person next to me. 

The first thing I realized about him was how pretty he was. He had witty, dark eyes and pure, dark skin. He looked worried about something. This boy had the most muscular frame I'd ever seen. The goatee on his chin was so unlike how I'd pictured beards looking. Everyone in Alfheim was clean shaven, but I had expected long, bushy beards like in the old pictures from Midgard. He had a square face and smile lines, but tears stained his cheeks. He must have been a dwarf, which would mean that I was in Nidavellir. Crap.

The second thing I noticed was that he was talking. I stared at him for a second before shaking my head. I pointed to my ear and shook my head again, hoping he would understand what I was trying to say. He looked confused, but after a little bit, his eyes widened and his lips formed an 'o'.

He got up and grabbed a pen and paper. I sighed. This shit again.

The third thing I realized was what I was wearing. Black sweatpants that were too wide and too short for me. I didn't have a shirt on. Just white and red bandages that layered across my whole torso. I felt some on my head, too. My left ankle was wrapped, too. So that was why everything hurt.

He returned with the pen and paper.

_Are you okay?_

He passed me the pen, but my injured hands were shaking so much and they hurt and... I just couldn't. 

I thought about it. Was I okay? I was hurt. Badly. Obviously. My brother was dead. Inge was alone. And yet, I was. I felt like I had finally finished my single purpose in life: I had made it out. I grinned. I hadn't done that in a while. It felt good.

I nodded. He looked at me skeptically, and then leapt up again. A bit later, he was back, this time with more bandage. He reached for my hands. Out of habit, I flinched, reeling back from him. He stayed still, regarding me like I was a hurt animal and he wanted to make sure he didn't scare it away. I moved my hand back to his, looking at the ground out of embarrassment. 

He wrapped my hands after putting some aloe on them. It was strange. He was strong, but so gentle at the same time. He had carried me all the way here, built me a sunbed, wasted medical supplies on me, and for what? So I could go on with my miserable life? Great. There was some mix of guilt and annoyance in my gut.

He had written on the paper again. I wish I could tell him I could read lips. 

_My name is Blitzen. You're in Nidavellir. Your chest bandages need to be changed. Can you sit up?_

I nodded and started to sit up. I was close to being all the way up, but a flash of pain shot through me, an electric shock up my spine making me lie down again. I bit my lip in frustration and shook my head.

_That's fine. It'll be easier if you go back on your elbows. Okay?_

I did. It took almost ten minutes, but he replaced my bandages with the same delicate power as before. Blitzen wiped me down with a warm washcloth, too. At that point, I got self conscious, but he gave me the most reassuring look I'd ever seen. I wanted to cry.

Why was he being so kind to me?

A week passed and my hands were working again. Blitzen had taken care of me. He fed me. He let me stay in his home. By the time I could write, I knew I needed to leave. As far as I could tell, he didn't have a job and I was a parasite. He clearly had things besides me to worry about. I shouldn't have thought it okay for me to just drop into his life and hope he would help me. 

_Blitzen. Thank you for being kind to me. It is more than I have had in a long time. I do not know how I could thank you aside from removing myself as a burden from your life. I hope that the gods are very good to you. Goodbye._

As he read, I shuffled towards the door. Before I could process what happened, A pair of arms wrapped around my neck. It hurt, but I couldn't bring myself to wrench him off of me. I think he was saying something against my neck, but I couldn't tell. He moved back. 

_Please don't go. You're not a burden! Besides, where are you gonna go? I mean, it'd be a waste for nobody to use that sunbed, right? And anyway, I want to get to know you. I'm sure you've got a story to be a deaf elf in Nidavellir._

_No. I'm sorry, but I can't put this on you. Goodbye, Blitzen._

_No! You don't get to just leave. When somebody pops into my life, I like to know why. And I know how you can help me, so if it's thanking me that you want, then you'd better stay._

I sighed.

_Fine. But I'm not staying longer than it takes for me to complete this task of yours._

Wow. This got him ecstatic. I guess I would have to stay for the time being. 

_So, what do I have to do?_

He paused for a second and thought. Of course he didn't actually have something figured out. His eyes lit up when he got an idea. Maybe I would get to see that happen a few more times.

_Take me to Mimisbrunnr._

_Are you serious?_

_Of course I'm serious! Come on, get cracking! Find a map or something._

_I could use my runes to guide us, but I don't think I'm strong enough right now. It would..._ It pained me to admit how weak I was. _It would be wise to wait a week or so before departing._

_Okie dokie. In a week, We'll leave._

And that we did.


	4. Code Monkey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The adventure begins.

BLITZEN

I took a deep breath, my bag of essentials (which was far bigger than Hearthstone's bag of essentials) on my back, and a notebook for communication purposes gripped like a holy book in my hand, and stepped into the darkness of the world I knew. I tried to picture what it would be like in my friend's homeland, that is, if I could survive the sunlight. To be completely shrouded in light all the time, to constantly see all the colors of the world... it would be incredible. It never really set in on me how dark and boxed-in my world view was. There were literal _worlds_ that I was missing out on. Realms I never even thought about. Until now. This lanky, awkward elf had stumbled into my life and changed it forever. 

It's funny to think about. I never would have met him if my dad hadn't died. I missed him. With every ounce of my being, I missed him! But that didn't stop me from entertaining the idea that it was destined. One way or another, Hearthstone and I were meant to meet, so my father... he had to die. He used to always say that things would always have to change, that the seasons would always shift, but now that it had happened, I found myself struggling to accept that I had already accepted it. 

Hearthstone poked me and pointed beyond the door. 

"Right," I muttered, puffs of cold morning air seeping out of my mouth. I exited my home.

The town was old. Like, really freaking old. The cobblestone crumbled under my feet. There were some construction workers fixing up an old house, probably more to maintain the craftsmanship than to protect people from falling steeples. 

People were staring at me. Why were they staring at me? Was I wearing something stupid? I felt my face get warmer, but as we passed one particular little girl who just wouldn't stop staring at me, her head tilted far higher than it would have needed to in order to see me. 

_Oh_. They weren't staring at me. They were obviously regarding the elf next to me. Elves didn't exist in Niflheim. Most people had only heard of them in fairy tales. I glanced back at Hearthstone. He had his black scarf pulled over his head like a hastily donned hijab. His cheeks were a light green, which was more color I'd seen in them since they were covered in blood. I shuddered at the thought. 

I whipped out the pad.

_Hey, buddy. Don't worry about them. They're just curious; not mean._

He took the pen and scribbled a note. Somehow, his handwriting was still absurdly good. I guessed it was because he had to learn how to write well before most other kids did. 

_It's not that I'm worried about what they think. I'm worried about that._

I looked at him inquisitively. He was pointing at a missing persons poster. With his face on it. The picture looked like it was taken when he was twelve, but he was still recognizable. 

_HEARTHSTONE ALDERMAN_

_MURDERER_

_RUNAWAY_

_THIEF_

_PLEASE RETURN IF FOUND_

Then in smaller text, below the picture, it read:

_Disabled, misled teenage elf. Please return._

Wow. That was a terrible parenting strategy.

Hearthstone had a bitter look on his face, subtle though it was. The mom of the little girl who was staring had her cell phone in her hand. There were sirens.

_Ready to run?_

He looked at me with a sarcastically cheesy-ass look like "I've been running all my life." I rolled my eyes as we made a break for it.

My heart pounded. I'd never leapt off of balconies before, nor had I climbed up window ledges. After that, I couldn't say that anymore. It was insane. Everything that we did on the way out of the city was _completely senile._

At one point, we turned into an alley. There were some buff guys in leather jackets who were gambling over a bag of red-gold. Apparently, Hearthstone thought we had a minute or so, because he pulled out a pair of six sided dice and threw them at the ground. I instinctively shouted, "Sevens!" before they hit the ground. A four and a three appeared on the dice. He picked up the dice, taking the bag of money with him, too. 

Great. Now we had six angry gamblers and the cops running after us. Well, it's not like it could get much worse.

I hated it when I said that and it got worse.

Turning into a new alleyway, I turned my head to grin at my new friend. Pro tip: never, ever look back when running for your life. I tripped over a sleeping pit bull. That was when I hit a high note I hadn't been able to hit since third grade. I fell on my face, waking a giant, angry beast of a dog. It growled at me. I could hear the yelling of gamblers and cops behind us.

"We are so dead."

A hand grabbed my forearm and pulled me until I stood up. We kept running. I would like you to know that I definitely didn't scream at all for that whole thing. Nope. None. 

Eventually, we found the way out. By some miracle, we managed to shut the gates to the city behind us, locking the sleeping doorman on the opposite side. 

Hearthstone and I glanced at each other, exasperatedly. I let out a weak laugh. The corner of my new friend's mouth twitched. I burst into laughter. Part of me felt weird, with only me laughing, but it only took a second for me to realize that I didn't care. Even if he was silent, I knew I could be myself around him. 

He reminded me of Jamie like that. I mean... they were so different in so many ways, but at the same time, they were both so... agh! I had no idea what it was that I felt. I knew I had a fat crush on Jamie, but Hearthstone was so... he was so... something else. I am a poet, no?

I felt a pair of eyes stuck to me. I turned, only to meet his face about a foot away from mine. Now in different worlds people had different customs. In Niflheim, it was normal to stand pretty close to people. On Azgard, they placed themselves no closer than three feet apart. Midgard was complicated because of some stupid political thing we had to learn about in history. "Countries" they were called. Sounds like a dumb idea, right? Anyway, on Alfheim, they were always somewhere around five feet away. Being closer was rude. I read it online. It could have been a hyperbole, but this was a little too close even for me.

After contemplating all that, I finally noticed his eyes.

Holy shit. Those were... were uh... really nice eyes. Blue. Exploding with grey-white in towards the center like fireworks. Blonde lashes swept up, finer than the most expensive thread. His pupils were huge, probably because of the dark. I studied him more. A dusting of emerald coated his snow white cheeks, complimenting his eyes perfectly. 

He blinked, as if realizing something, and then snapped away from my gaze, breaking the spell. He took out the small, portable notepad I had made for him (duck tape is a magical thing).

_We should get going._

I drew my own pad.

_Yeah. That was an interesting turn of events. You stole the gold why, again?_

He blushed more. _I mean, if we're going to be fugitives, we might as well get something out of it._

I laughed. _Fair enough._ He glanced at me in a knowing way.

_You know I can read lips, right?_

"What!?"

He rolled his eyes.

"I've never written that much in my life! I thought I was gonna lose use of my arm! And you're telling me it was all for nothing?!" I was trying really hard to stay mad. I should have been at least _kinda_ mad at him, even if some of it was in jest. That didn't stop the grin on my face from revealing itself. 

_I was curious to see how long you would go on for! Besides, I do have some dignity. If I have to write all the time, it's only fair that you do too._

Something gave me the feeling that nobody had tried to communicate with him in some way other than lip reading and writing on a pad before.

"You must hate this thing."

He shrugged, trying to seem indifferent, but there was pain in his eyes. I wished I could take that away.

"And you've had to deal with writing everything down for your whole life?" Another spark of misery shot through him.

_Well, there was someone who taught me ASL. My brother. And I taught Inge, the family servant, how to sign as well._

_Will you teach me?_

I swear to Odin, his eyes lit up for a moment before he paused and wrote something on his pad.

_I'm only here until we finish this absurd quest of yours, remember?_

_Right._

He closed his pad and put it in his pocket, queuing me to do the same. We both stood up and walked out into the rest of the world. Walking in silence was some combination of awkward and peaceful. I wished we could talk. Or sign if that's what it took. Writing and walking was too dangerous, especially considering how much worse of dark vision he had as opposed to me. 

I really wanted to get to know him better. Maybe I could convince him to stay. Or rather take me with him. There were ways to avoid sunlight and I hated the looks of pity I got here. I hated how nobody respected my talent. Still, there was Jamie. He was wonderful. I couldn't just leave him alone. We were each other's only friends and I refused to leave him alone, and yet, here I was. Walking farther and farther away from the one person I trusted with some deaf elf who fell into my life by random happenstance. 

What the hel was I doing?

Oh gods, no backing down now. We're officially on the roller coaster, now it's time to see if it was going to break down or not.


	5. I Feel Fantastic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adventure time, kids.

HEARTHSTONE

The snow was up to my ankles. It was colder than anything I'd ever felt before. I'd never truly felt cold before. As all the travel books said, _it's always sunny in Alfheim!_ Somehow, I felt like that wasn't original.

I'd never seen snow before either. It was so... fine. And it was the purest shade of white to exist. It covered everything, like a blanket of chill. Even the the pine needles had a thin layer of ice over them. Snow was such a short word to describe such a beautiful thing. The most beautiful thing. It's still really cold, though. 

Blitzen looked like he was struggling. Each time he took a step, the snow gave way under him, burying him up to his knees. I realized I was standing on top of a frozen layer of snow, gently gliding over it as if I were no more than a cloud. It must have been frustrating for him to see me doing so well. 

I stomped on the ground, once, hard. Immediately, like glass, the ice shattered and released me into a foot of powdery, angelic snow. It was terribly cold. I think I let out a gasp.

Something hit the back of my neck. Cold. Like everything else. I whipped around to see Blitz. He had the guiltiest grin on. I rolled my eyes.

 _I refuse to enable these childish antics,_ I thought. Another chunk of snow hit me. This time, I couldn't stop myself. I picked up some snow and formed it into a ball-like shape. Then, I chucked it at him. 

We played with the snow for an absurd amount of time. I had lost track of time at some point. My fingers stung for some reason. Blitz threw another ball at me. I nearly caught it, but as soon as it hit my fingers, something snapped. The somewhat burning, somewhat tingling sensation in my hands exploded in a burst like lightning, sending the sting all the way to my spine, just for a second, but plenty long enough for me to forget how to hold myself upright. 

Blitzen's worried gentle eyes were the next thing I saw. He was always so worried. I wished he'd stop worrying about me. 

_I'm fine_ , I wrote, my usually neat handwriting performing defenestration of itself. The dwarf rolled his eyes in a teasing-but-nervous manner. I bit my lip. _Let's go. Even if it does hurt, we can't turn back now._

Blitz turned, probably hearing something. He glanced at me, in a flighty way, and then back at the bushes.

"I don't have a weapon." He mouthed out the words, but I didn't think he was actually talking. Something about the way he moved when he spoke was lacking, so he was trying to keep quiet. I patted my bag of runes, hoping that would give him some hope, rather than seeing the truth of how dead we were if we had any encounter of any sort.

Out of the bushes came a group of Tengus. I recognized them from my father's books on mythology, but I didn't think they were real. I certainly didn't know how to fight one. Heh, I say that as if I could fight in general.

Anyway, the Tengus, I figured eleven of them, were dressed in dark robes that mostly covered their eyes. They each had dual short swords at their sides. Their feathers, beaks, and eyes were all vaguely the same color. Yes, feathers and beaks. Tengus were deadly meshes between ravens and humanoids; an avian species. Their leader appeared to be an albino Tengu, which was remarkably rare. From what I remembered, they lacked the ability to fly, but their talons were very powerful and this species was well known for being a bit... trigger happy with their talons and swords.

"We... uh... come in peace!" Blitz shouted. Stupid dwarf. I lightly punched him in the arm. If nothing else, it warmed my fingers a bit. He glared at me. 

I couldn't tell what the Tengus were saying. Their beaks were not designed for human speech in the same way and lip reading was impossible.

"No, _you're_ the ugly one. I mean, bird-people pirates? Really? You can do better than that!"

Another pause.

"Hey, man! What did the ducks ever do to you, huh?"

 _What are they saying?_ I wrote.

"My elf here is deaf and you ugly-ass bird people are being very rude by not giving me time to translate!"

 _His_ elf? Why was I not offended?

"Hearthstone, what they said is basically that we shouldn't be here and they want to take all our stuff and kill us or whatever. Does that sound like a very creative plan to you?"

_No. No, it does not, Blitzen. In fact, it sounds like a very dull plan. I mean, you are not even going to bother asking whether we have any magic skill, fighting skill, or other talent? How are we useful to you dead?_

That was all in sign. I figured I might as well try. A lot of people were fluent in ASL, according to Andi. Blitz looked... flabbergasted. Yeah, that was a fun word.

"I have no bloody clue what he said just now, but I assume it was a no. So, ha! My friend agrees! You guys suck at ambushes."

The leader spoke for a moment.

"Wait... You understand ASL? I feel like I missed a memo."

_Now that we've settled that, may we kill you now?_

It was bizarre to see with the talons working ASL, but somehow, I understood.

 _Go for it,_ I signed.

"Never!" cried Blitz. "There must be something we can do instead of fighting you!"

 _Like what?_ The Tengu signed as he spoke, presumably.

"Textile design! Crafting! Uhh..." He looked at me desperately.

 _Pinball?_ I offered, probably unhelpfully.

Our attackers looked at each other. Of course the one time I'm making an obvious joke, everyone takes it seriously. Why was this my life?

_We have decided upon a use for you adventurer scum. Come with us and do as we say or we'll be obligated to kill you._

I gave them a thumbs-up. They pulled us along as if we wouldn't follow of our own free will. What would make them think we would resist? They had weapons. We didn't. They obviously win this battle.

After a while of trudging through the snow, they led us into a dark cave. I decided I wasn't a fan of dark caves. There were rainbow lights flashing on the other side of the room. Pinball.

_You will beat the pinball game and we will release you._

_Why?_

"Hearth, buddy, pro tip: don't question mercy!"

_There is a beast that has been killing our clansmen. The gods provided us with a tool to rid ourselves of it. So far, anyone who tried to beat the game has died. It will solve all our problems. Thank you for volunteering._

I couldn't tell whether or not he was smirking.

The pinball machine was about five yards away. I approached it. Suddenly, the room got darker. A boulder had been moved in front of the door. Great.

My fingers found the controls and, nervously, I began the game. I could almost sense Blitzen behind me, yelling at me to think for a minute before starting. I didn't see any sense in that. The game would either kill us or it wouldn't. No point in postponing the inevitable.

As soon as I pressed the start button, the lights whirred, creating an image of the world tree. The cave we were in shook. I lasted about two minutes before the ball fell in between the flippers. The cave shook more. Some chunks of rock fell from the ceiling. I was about to start the game again when Blitzen grabbed my elbow. It was almost too dark to read his lips.

"Hey, slow down. Take a breather. We need to figure out a logical plan to this, okay?"

 _Okay,_ I signed.

"You said 'okay', huh? Check it out! I'm learning sign language!" A smile threatened to break my resting neutral expression. I took out my pen and pad.

_How do we beat this? Pinball isn't exactly something you can win at. You just keep going until you get a lot of points. No limit._

"Maybe we have to just get a ton of points. You know, keep going until we break the game."

_I suppose so, but there must be more to it. That seems too simple. This doesn't make any sense._

I started the game again. This time, I got close to enough points to 'break the game', as my friend said. I filled up all the slots where numbers went, but I couldn't get past that amount, and couldn't win. This was ridiculous! Bird-people were forcing us into playing pinball for our lives in a world where my species weren't supposed to exist to complete a wildly insane quest! Is this how I would die?

"Hearth, I have an idea."

_Hearth?_

"What?"

_You called me Hearth._

"Oh. Sorry. I didn't mean to. I guess I just slipped up and I probably should have asked you, but-"

_I'm not offended. It's just that my brother used to call me that. You may continue to use it. What was your idea?_

I thought he was blushing, but it was hard to tell in the dark.

"You're gonna think I'm crazy." At this point, the walls were practically rubble. They were held together just enough to keep us from dying, but one more game and we'd be fresh groceries for Sweeney Todd. "Press start and don't stop, even when I... yeah."

_What are you going to do?_

Blitzen pressed start. My eyes doubled in size and my hands flew to the controls. A little warning would be nice.

A hand covered my eyes. Oh gods. _This_ was his idea? Well, that was the end of my short life. Or so I thought.

My hands instinctively tapped the controls, miraculously at the proper times. After what felt like hours of this senile crap, Blitz released his hand. I looked at the machine. There was a crack down the middle and confetti out the top. Huh. Neat.

Blitzen was ecstatic. It made me happy to see him happy, even if I didn't quite understand why. I gave him a thumbs-up. He grinned. I smiled. The rock moved out of the way of our exit. Unfortunately, red-gold didn't rain down from the skies, but at least we were one step closer to our impending dooms. It's funny, how Blitz and I became one unit during that bit. It was no longer me and him; it was _us_. The only other time I'd had an 'us' was with Andi. Why was this idiot so special to me after only a few weeks of knowing him? It was entirely illogical.

We exited the cave. The Tengus were gone, but that was probably a good thing, even if they would have showered us in riches for saving them from the pinball machine. As soon as we stepped into the cold, my body seemed to remember how tired it was. With the lack of sunlight and the physical and mental exertion, I was beyond fatigued. I started to write something down, but I was rudely interrupted by sleep.

I only ever had nightmares. As a kid, I had some pleasant dreams, but that changed as soon as I realized my parents would never see me as more than another mouth to feed, and only got worse when Andiron died. That night, though, it was different. It was more vivid. More lucid.

I was in a city. The buildings were absurdly tall and had glass along the walls. Alfheim used to have some buildings like that, but they got outdated and replaced with nicer, more eco-friendly structures. There were tons of people. Next to me sat one human who, for some strange reason, felt familiar. He had blonde hair and stormy eyes. And poor. Very poor-looking. He signed to me.

_Hey, man, what's up?_

I tried to respond, but I couldn't move. Instead, there were translucent arms in front of me that moved as if the turn of events was inevitable.

 _Nothing. Can I go back to sleep now?_ I signed. Why the hel did this broke human child know ASL?

_No way! We have stuff to do today!_

_Stuff? What stuff? Ask people for money? Take falafel out of the dumpster? Curl up in a ball and cry? Look! I can do two at once!_

Dream me put up a sign that read "Anything helps. God bless your soul" and rolled over. I barely caught a glimpse of the kid rolling his eyes before the dream shifted.

I appeared to be in a dark land with a large pond beside me. Mirmir's well. His face was in the water, scowling up at me. I read his watery lips as he spoke.

"You know you're going to die before you get here, right? You don't have sunlight, a necessity for... your kind. You don't have food. You have your magic rocks, but no real weapons. You and your boyfriend are on a steadily accelerating train to failure. You can't ever repay your debts. At least I don't have to worry about you." _Boyfriend?_

I tried to sign, but once again, nothing worked.

"Well, have fun on your little... adventure. I hope you had fun. Goodbye, Hearthstone."

I awoke with a start. Looking beside me, I could see that Blitz was already tied up and gagged. All around us were rock people, about half the height of an average elf, but incredibly powerful. There was about twenty of them. We were doomed. 

"Hey, asshole!" one of them said. "This you?" He held up a missing poster of (drum roll, please!) me. Fantastic.


	6. Still Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hearth gets a painful reminder of the past.

BLITZEN

I wished there was something I could have done to keep the rock-people from capturing us. Just like I wished I could have done something about the bird-people. I really wanted to believe that I could talk my way out of any situation, but that just wasn't true. Weapons were kind of necessary for this whole adventuring thing. Maybe if I had thought that far ahead into the future, I would have brought one. 

Anyway, they were scary. They were ice-covered bouncers made out of solid _rock_. Stupid rock. They dragged us into another cave. I was starting to get sick of caves, even though my whole home city was basically a huge cave. As soon as we entered, I saw light. I definitely didn't scream. Nope. They shoved me in anyway, and when I didn't turn into stone, I realized the light was coming from torches. We didn't just... fall into a different realm. Sometimes I think I'm smart. That was not one of them.

Hearth looked miserable. His fingers and nose were looking a nasty shade of pink. I figured that was bad, since he blushed green, generally. It looked good on him, though. The green blush, not the pink lack of circulation. He looked good all the time, though. Gods, I was so hopelessly gay. I needed to get back to Jamie so that maybe I could go back to crushing on him in vain instead of this devastatingly awkward crap. At least with Jamie, I knew I didn't have a chance.

I was so utterly lost in my head that I barely noticed that our captors were discussing our deaths. That is, until I heard the word "kill". Repeatedly.

"But if Groc kill now, no pay," said one very clever rock person.

"Tall man only want elf. Groc kill stupid one and get pay still," said a less clever rock person.

"Hey! I'm not--"

Hearth proceeded to kick me, hard, which probably took a lot of effort, considering how close we were and how tall he was. 

"Groc kill stupid one now?" The one who had seemed clever earlier and obviously wasn't anymore nodded. Groc came towards me. No weapon, just a painfully formidable pair of fists. He drew back one of his massive fists. 

"Stop!" We had been saved! Huzzah! "Remember, haste makes waste. No need to kill him now. You'll get your chance later." I wanted to cry. Hear that? That's the sound of my faith in the world slipping away. The man looked exactly like Hearth and nothing at all like him at the same time. His hair was blonde and he was tall and pale and skinny. Just like Hearth. And yet, my friend had a wise, knowing look in his eye while this man looked like everything beautiful in the world was barely satisfactory. He was wearing a green button up with a grey blazer, which was a fine choice in style, especially with how it went with his hair color and such, but there were a few things it was missing. Maybe it needed a tie. 

"Hearthstone." The man came towards him. There was no love in how he said the name. His voice was colder than the snow outside this cave. "You failed to complete the wergild." There was a painfully long pause. "Untie him." The rock people did as told. Hearth started to sign out broken-looking sentences, not smooth motions like they were before. The man who was apparently Hearth's evil dad threw a whiteboard and marker at him. My friend stood up and continued to sign, looking slightly annoyed, which I assumed was his version of ripping the guy's face off.

"Use your board." 

Hearth continued to sign.

"Use. Your. _Board_."

In giant letters, Hearth wrote "NO" on the whiteboard, showed it to him, broke it over his knee, and threw the remains on the ground.

"You will come home. You will _restart_ the wergild. There will be new rules added. You will not speak to anyone, including the servants. You will not--"

"Can you _shut up_ and have a conversation with your son for a single minute?" Evil dad gritted his teeth.

"And who are you supposed to be?"

"I'm Hearth's friend. And he obviously needs one, seeing how you've treated him all these years."

"I am not the one making this difficult."

"Um. Yeah. You kinda are." Hearthstone twiddled his thumbs.

"If he refuses to use the board--"

"He uses sign because it makes him feel more like a _sentient being_ with the ability to express emotions! I don't know if you understand what that means, but some people value it. So, are you two gonna sit down and have a conversation or do we have to make this difficult?" Holy shit. I'd never genuinely sounded like a badass before.

Hearth looked annoyed, but willing, but his dad looked... less so.

"I will not tolerate this childish nonsense."

"Childish nonsense? That's you. Hey, buddy," I turned to one of the rock people, "Can you make me a war hammer? I have to prove a point real quick."

He swung his arm forward and it glowed red for a second, but then his hand forged itself into a pretty nice hammer. He detached it from his arm. "Caroc like silly dwarf," he said, laughing to himself a few times. He handed it to me.

"Thanks. Okay," I took a deep breath, "hard way it is."

I raised the hammer up and slammed it down on Groc's stupid head. Haha. That's what you get for making death threats. Since it was solid iron and they were mere rock, it made them really unhappy. After he had passed out (or died. I'm not sure. I'm not a bad person, I swear!), I moved on to the others and made a whole lot of gravel. I apologized to Caroc when I bashed his head in. They fought back (duh) and I did have a few major bruises and a pretty big gash down my back, which hurt like hel, but I would live.

I looked back at Hearth's father.

"You're evil. Hearth made a choice. You're either gonna choose to respect that, or you'll be miserable for the rest of your life. Now go back to the ass crack you came from and make your damn choice."

The fugly elf scowled. He spit on the ground and disappeared.

"Wait. What the hell?"

Hearth looked around, his brow furrowed. Eventually, he saw something on the ground. He picked it up. It was a shiny black sphere with a glass circle on the top of it.

_He was never really here. It was a hologram._

"You guys have _holograms?!_ "

_Yes. Don't you?_

"Uh... yeah. They're everywhere."

_I can't hear you, but I can still tell when you're being sarcastic. I'm not that stupid._

I awkwardly cleared my throat.

_And Blitzen, what you did back there for me. No one has ever done that before. I would like to thank you for your kindness. You are the best thing that has ever happened to me and I need you to know that._

I threw my arms around his shoulders. I had to jump a bit, which led to him nearly falling over because of my sheer muscle mass (I work out ;) ) and it was overall a terrible hug, but it was kind of important to both of us, I think. I doubted he would admit it, but he needed emotional support and, frankly, so did I. I never got told crap like that! I mean, I've never been the best thing to happen to someone, but then Hearth came along and, well, a lot of things changed. And he had a crazy backstory! Evil dad who sends bounty hunters after him and makes him write on a board even when he obviously doesn't want to. And then there was that brother that kept coming up. Something in the way his stone expression faltered and his flawless handwriting shook made the subject feel really weighted. 

"So will you teach me how to sign, then? I mean, if I'm the best thing to happen to you, that is. Not that I'm taking that for granted. That's crazy. I'm not even that smart. Or nice. Or funny. Or attractive. Or --" he was waving a note in front of my face.

_Shut up. You're perfect._

"Is that a yes?" I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks.

He made a motion with his hand. A fist bobbing up and down at the wrist, like a nodding head.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes. Great! Awesome!" And that was the first day that Hearth spent teaching me how to sign. We completely skipped the alphabet and cut straight to phrases like _kill, help, magic, gold, friend, are you okay?_ , and _duck_. Oh, we did do some of the alphabet. Just enough to learn each other's names, though. I told him he could call me Blitz and he smiled and came up with a sign for my name. It was two letter B's facing each other (one with each hand) and then they turned into claw-like forms and went in opposite directions. That's right, my name was the letter B combined with the word _sparkle_. I could almost see myself on a stage giving an inspirational speech and ending it with, "Hey, if you take anything away from this, I want it to be this: Be sparkle." Mic drop. I couldn't decide whether or not to be embarrassed about how not embarrassed I was about that.

I came up with a sign for him, too. Basically, do your hands like flames, palms facing your chest, and then put your hands into a letter H and draw a box with them. Yeah, it was a makeshift sign for _hearth_ , since there wasn't one, but there was a sign for _fireplace_ , so I just combined that with H.

At some point, we decided to be productive again, and continued on our quest. We hadn't slept for about 36 hours, give or take. There was lots of snow to eat for water, though, so there was that, if nothing else, and we had each brought some snacks. We were both tired, but he was worse off than me. Somehow, we kept going and managed to have a pretty okay time with it, too. I kept reminding him that he could go back to the tanning bed soon and have a ton of food. With that in mind, we made it across dark, cold mountains for the next twenty or so hours. It was starting to get miserable. 

Hearth's cheeks were even more sunken in and he was paler and his fingers were turning a nasty shade of purple. He could barely walk without stumbling and his chattering teeth were somehow louder than the icy, petrifying winds. I was naturally resistant to cold, being a child of Freya and all, but even I was getting numb.

Every now and then, I would feel like we were getting close, but then we'd make it to the top of a mountain and see nothing for miles around.

After a while, I can't remember when or how this happened, I had an arm around his waist and he had one around my neck. Our hands were intertwined. You know, for warmth.

Ahead, I saw a fascinatingly well shaped patch of snow. Weren't we looking for something well shaped? Oh, that's right. We were looking for a well.

"Hearth, buddy, I think we found it."

He looked at me, smiled sheepishly, and promptly passed out. I followed pretty soon after.


	7. The Future Soon

HEARTHSTONE

When I woke up, I could hardly move. I was halfway buried in the snow. There was something around my neck. It was warm. I pulled it closer and shut my eyes more. Blitz started shaking me.

 _No_ , I signed, halfheartedly.

He lifted me up and stuck me on my feet. His strength was... impressive. Perhaps it was average for a dwarf, but I was quite impressed. Or embarrassed at my own lack of physical power.

"C'mon! We're nearly there!" Somehow, I could tell that he was losing willpower too. I smiled weakly.

 _Fine._

He let go of me and I immediately regretted agreeing. His hands were very warm on my shoulders and they were also the only thing keeping me upright. I caught myself, barely.

I reached into my bag of runes and the one that I pulled out was _Kenaz,_ the rune of fire and warmth. I clasped it in between my palms as hard as I could for a few seconds and then released. The imprint on it popped off the stone and appeared above us, glowing bright reddish orange. I was immediately a lot warmer. Maybe not warm, but certainly more comfortable. It took a lot out of me to keep it burning, though. Because it was so cold and every ounce of power put into the runes came directly from me, it was absurdly draining. The feeling was vaguely similar to having an I.V. in your arm; you start off perfectly awake and then you just feel your energy dissipating. 

I thought back to the dream I had had the previous night, when I had passed out in the snow. It wasn't a vision, which was somewhat comforting, but at the same time, it just made me so painfully aware of the fact that all of what I had seen was from myself. My own mind had formulated _that._

After I passed out, I found myself in the fuzzy dream land of my mind. I was in Midgard. Why was it always Midgard? I was on a blue couch, with a television in front of me. I had never seen one in person before, Father never allowed such things in the house, but I didn't seem to think anything of it in the dream. Someone had their arm around me. I nuzzled closer to the chest attached to it. Something called _Game of Thrones_ was playing on the TV. Eventually, the credits rolled and the body next to mine shifted. I sat up.

The person next to me was Blitzen, dressed fashionably in a sleek purple button up with an unbuttoned yellow vest embellished with white embroidery. His darker yellow tie was undone around his neck. I couldn't help but look at him in a way that was... quite different than how a friend would look a friend. I sheepishly smiled at him. 

_I missed you,_ I signed. Somehow, I knew he was fluent in ASL.

_You know, in French, they say T-U M-E M-A-N-Q-U-E-S. The direct translation is "you are missing from me". I was missing from you; you were missing from me. Now I'm here._

_The French also use M-O-N C-H-O-U as a term of endearment. It means "my cabbage"._

Blitz rolled his eyes. _Shut up, you big goof._ Then, he kissed me. It was wonderful. Obviously, I couldn't really feel it, but I had quite an imagination. I don't know how long I just dreamed about kissing him. It was stupid. I'd never been interested in anyone before. I never thought that I'd be this interested in a male before. It was... nice, though. It was like Blitz was what had been missing from me all these years. Before, I was a nobody. Now, I told more jokes just to see him laugh. Now, I had a counterpart. Now, I felt like I meant something to somebody. I hated that he had given me an identity, but I loved having one.

Then, I woke up.

 _I need to tell you about a dream I had,_ I wrote. Blitz looked at me with inquisitive eyes. 

_Go on._

_So I was in Midgard with some kid with blonde hair..._ I proceeded to tell him about my vision of the teenager who was trying to get me to get out of bed.

_And that affects me how?_

_I think you were there. You weren't in the actual scene I saw, but I had this feeling. Do you understand?_

He looked dubious, for obvious reasons, but I wished he would accept that he was in the vision and we could move on. 

_Not really, but I don't have to._

He smiled in a way that I hadn't ever seen anyone smile before. Not even Andi. This was something beyond brotherhood. Something beyond friendship. Wait. That came out wrong. I'm not gay. Being gay is wrong. I was just trying to be poetic.

_Cool. Good._

Could feeling like dream-me did last night be wrong? It felt like dream-Blitz was my true north and all I wanted to do was follow him. Still, I knew it was impossible for me to feel that way for another male, certainly not one of his species. That was just how it was. Just as valid as the laws of physics.

We kept walking. After another thousand feet or so, I halted and took out my pad again.

_Mirmir's well is in Yggdrasil._

_Yeah. So?_

So, at some point, if we're anywhere close, we'll fall into a portal and into the world tree. Try not to get killed by the branches. They can be formidable.

He gave me a thumbs up with a nervous smile.

The next step we took, the snow crumpled beneath us, as did the rest of the ground. We were suddenly shrouded in light for a brief moment and then, we were falling. I think I attained some minor injuries, but I was mostly numb, so I couldn't tell. At some point, I ended up on a limb of the massive tree. Blitz had landed a few branches below me. I made my way down. 

It took me a second to process Blitzen in that moment. His lip was trembling. His fists were clenched. His over widened eyes had tears streaming from them. 

_Oh._

I had forgotten about Ratatoskr. I was immune to the lies. Immune to the torturous whispers, but that was something Blitz was not. He was vulnerable here. Part of me wanted to bash my idiot head into the tree or just stay here until the beast faced us. The more sensible part knew what I had to do.

I held Blitzen close, very tight, trying desperately not to think about how I couldn't stop to enjoy it due to the fact that I was quite occupied with trying to save his life, and jumped. 

When we made impact and I wasn't dead, I was genuinely surprised. I had sort of expected that to be my last and only act of heroism, but something held me in the air, preventing me from a quick death. Dammit.

Water surrounded my friend and I, trapping us in a bubble above the land. We had reached the bottom of Yggdrasil, which meant that the water that was holding us up was--

A face appeared in front of mine, completely forged out of the liquid. 

"Hello, boys," he said. Finally, someone without a beard, beak, or rock-face. His lips were the easiest I'd read since we started this journey, excluding Blitz. With that, he promptly dropped us on the roots of the tree. I bit my lip. If I took ten steps backward, I would literally fall into oblivion. There was no coming back from that. 

I poked Blitzen to see if he was alive. He flinched.

"You could always just summon some wax and stuff it in his ears or something clever like that."

_I can't--_

"Oh, right! You're not actually powerful enough to do that yet! Hah! Good luck, then." Mirmir was even more of an ass than I predicted he would be.

I reached into my bag of runes and pulled one out. Eolh was what came out. It meant protection and healing, more specifically, protection of loved ones. I mentally rolled my eyes. I held the rune in between my index finger and thumb and closed my eyes, letting out a breath. The stone began to melt between my fingers. I tore it into two semi-liquid chunks of rune and stuck them in Blitz's ears. Hopefully, he was okay with this. Then, I put my middle finger up at Mirmir.

After a few seconds, Blitz looked at me, eyes bloodshot and lost, but he would be okay. Then, he started putting some things together.

"What's that in my-- WHY CAN'T I HEAR ANYTHING?!!" Welcome to my life. "IS THAT MIRMIR? WHY DO I HAVE ROCKS IN MY EARS?"

_Yes, that's Mirmir. You were having a mental breakdown because of Ratatoskr, so I took the liberty of putting rocks in your ears and now you're fine. Go drink from the well._

He still looked confused. I thought I had answered all his questions. 

_I won't be able to understand what he says, though!_

_Yes, you will. I will translate onto the paper. Besides, it may be best to not listen to him._

"Listen, kid. You don't get to just walk up and drink outta my fountain. There's prices. There's power like you've never known."

I translated all of this onto paper and Blitzen only shrugged and walked towards the water. I would have tried to stop him if I hadn't been so shocked. That was quite a lot of information to process and Blitz's nonchalance was either proof of his incredible courage or his masterful idiocy. Mirmir also looked surprised. Apparently his little spiel had worked on everyone else.

"That's the part when you start listening, stupid. When somebody tells you that something you're about to do comes with a massive price, you stop and listen! I know that you're going to drink, but let me explain what you have to do in exchange first, okay?" Blitz seemed to decide to humor him. "Okay. After you drink, your memory cortex will expand and fluctuate in it's abilities. Once it holds the capacity to withstand the exuberantly plentiful abundance of knowledge that you will absorb, your mind will proceed to do just that. You may attain skills which you did not have before, you may understand the past and present, and, most importantly, you may catch glimpses of what has yet to come. With all that said, do I make myself clear?"

Blitz blinked. He wrote something on his pad. I looked over his shoulder.

_How many times did you have to rehearse that to get your techno babble right?_

Mirmir looked furious. Strange how one could know something would happen and still be upset about it. I desperately signed to the god to try to: a, calm him down and, b, figure out what we would have to to after we learned about "what was yet to come".

_What will we have to do after we drink?_

"You will be sent to Midgard. Your task is to take care of a young man named Magnus Chase. You will know him when you meet him. You will be misled to believe that this is an easy task. Do not, under any circumstances, tell him--"

Blitz swiftly and stupidly took a huge swig of the water using his hands like a cup.

_Tell him what?_

Mirmir held up a sign that read _can't talk after he drinks. You must drink now._

Darn. I plunged my hands into the water and took a drink. Then, as soon as I thought I was getting sick of passing out at the end of chapters, I stayed completely and utterly awake as my mind got ripped to shreds. 

Everything went black, but I was very lucid. I could feel my "memory cortex" expanding. Not like my forehead growing, more like rapidly growing more neurons that were just waiting for a job to do. The pain went on for a very long time. It was unbearable. Part of me was still sane enough to wonder if I would fall off the edge of the universe because I stumbled the wrong way. Eventually, the pain subsided and I could see the world again. Yay. Then, without any warning whatsoever, I was thrashed into a memory that wasn't mine. Not quite a memory, though. More of a feeling. I knew that this feeling belonged to Blitz and that it was terrible, and I knew that this feeling was in regards to his father. 

I could see his father in my head. The image had been shoved there with only a tiny ounce of consent. He was tall for a dwarf and gave off a wild inventor sort of vibe. He had a long black beard which had been partially braided to cover up how immersed in dreadlocks it was. His hair was in a similar manner. The top half of it had been harnessed by a gold clip with elegant engravings stretching along it. Blitz's father wore a baggy t-shirt and loose jeans ripped at the knees. Over the shirt was a black and red flannel, the sleeves rolled up as far as they would go. I imagined Blitz would consider this outfit distasteful, but the mixed feelings surrounding the man himself were what struck me. It was a melancholy, bittersweet kind of love. It wasn't like a dream-- a scene wasn't playing out before my eyes, but somehow, I knew this man was dead. The second I understood, I was thrust into a new memory.

I saw someone saying that I was doing runes all wrong and that they would help me. I found it hard to recall the exact phrasing, but it was something like that. Then, I knew that I knew more about the art of runic casting.

The last thing I received was sudden and inexplicable forgiveness for my father. It washed over me like a tidal wave. From then on, a part of me knew what it was like to be him. His actions stayed the same. He was still the same man who refused to speak my language and could never understand me if he tried. And yet, I didn't hate him. In the end, he was just a sad, lost old man. In a way, I pitied him. I wished I understood why he was so broken, but I don't think I could have. I now knew him as a man instead of a monster, but that didn't take back the monstrous things he had done.

A moment before the world came back, I could swear I saw my father's face looking at me, with pride, just for a second, but just long enough to make my heart melt. I smiled.


	8. I'm Your Moon

BLITZEN

It was cold and dark when I woke up. For a minute, I thought that last little adventure of ours was a dream, but then I felt the rocks in my ears. We were in a city. Not any regular city, though. This one was outside, not underground. There were neon signs and graffiti on the old buildings. The ground was coated in a layer of slush, despite the powdery, nice snow coming down. I shuddered, remembering our last run-in with snow. 

Oh- and the other big thing: there were _humans everywhere._ We were in Midgard. We had made it!

It was dark, though, so I decided not to wake my friend. Instead, I moved us into an alleyway, far from where I saw pinkish light starting to creep up through the spaces in between the buildings. I assumed that was the sun. It was even scarier than I imagined! I ran for the hills, carrying Hearth bridal style. 

I reached a corner of a building. I put Hearth on the side where I figured the sun would soon be and sat down a few feet away from him on the shaded bit. _There._ Now that I finally had some time to relax, my mind decided to contemplate life. Perfect.

After I lost consciousness, I saw some stuff. The first was Alfheim. I was way taller than I usually was and I wasn't turning to stone, even though the sun was super bright. I glanced down at what I was wearing. Only one elf could be stylistically tasteless to wear something like this. It was a black button up over grey dress pants. Definitely Hearth.

I saw Mr. Evildad talking to another evil-looking elf. Everybody was huddled around a white and gold tombstone with a hologram of a little boy laughing on a loop. The kid looked like a happier version of Hearth. Like Hearth if he still had a fire in his eyes. Mr. Evildad looked over at me.

"What is he doing here?" Oh, cool! Lip reading!

The woman he was speaking to made a halfhearted attempt to stop him from making his way over to me. 

"I order you to leave."

I was writing on a whiteboard with black marker. My hands were moving, but I wasn't telling them to. I was just an observer. This had already happened long ago.

_He may have been your son, but he was my brother. I want to pay my respects. Please._

Evildad squinted for a second and then looked away.

"If you must." I got the feeling the answer would have been different if Hearth had used sign language.

Hearth walked up to the tombstone and knelt. He placed a graceful hand on the etching of his brother's name, Andiron. Looking up at the hologram, I could feel a tear dripping down his cheek. I wanted to hug him, but that was a little hard to do, given the situation. I could hear Hearth's thoughts about how sorry he was, about how it was his fault and it just broke my heart. I thought that would be the end of this little vision, but _no, of course not._

My friend rose from the ground and turned, ready to leave, but when he looked up, we saw his father standing, speaking, and gesturing in Hearth's direction.

"I'd like you all to meet this boy. His name is Hearthstone and he is the murderer of my son! You see, he is deaf. Clearly, he has a dire imperfection, but even so, my lovely wife and I kept him as our son and how does he repay us? He gets my son killed! Maybe if he did not have this issue, if he weren't so _broken,_ Andiron would live..."

He continued his little speech, but Hearth had gotten up and started to leave. I wanted to yell at the man! Or throw a rock at him. Anything would have done. Instead, Hearth turned away and hung his head in shame, as if everything he had said was true. The vision shifted.

This time, I was in a tailor's shop. It looked like it was in the same city I was in now. I must say, the clothes in the shop were very nice. There were several different suits and about the same amount of dresses. Each clearly had many tedious hours of effort put in and they were beautiful. There was a stack of business cards on the desk I was standing at (did I work here?). I picked one up.

_Blitz 'n Blang_

Hmmm... that sounded suspiciously a lot like something I wanted to call my future fashion store. Grinning, I looked around. _Finally._

The vision shifted for a final time. I was in a forge and I was working on a very intricate project. I looked closer at what I was forging. _Rings. Oh. Oh!_ Me? Get married? Oh stars, everything was turning upside down.

Then, I awoke.

Thinking about this stuff was a lot of work. Something poked me in the ribs. It was, of course, my friend.

_Hey,_ I signed. _Wait. Oh cool. I guess I know sign now._

The corners of Hearth's lips quirked upwards. I guessed that was as close to smiling as he got. The sun was up now and shining onto my friend and conveniently avoiding me. Ah, I loved being right. It was still cold, even though the sun was up, but this was practically hot compared to the snow of Nidavellier. 

_How'd you sleep?_ I asked. 

_Can that really be considered sleep?_ I shrugged. 

_What did you see?_

_Well, I got better at casting, I received forgiveness from my father, and I learned of your father's death. I'm sorry for your loss._

Part of me felt like my memories had been violated, but then I thought of what I had done. If he only learned about what happened and I had lived in his shoes during a traumatic personal thingie, well, I suddenly felt bad. 

_What about you?_

_Oh boy._

_Well, I learned ASL, duh, I saw my future fashion store, I saw myself forging wedding rings, dunno why that would ever happen, though, and I lived one of your memories._

He looked like he wanted to ask, but at the same time was scared to. 

_It was you at your brother's funeral._

He let out a sigh of relief, like that was one of the less awful events in his life. 

_I'm so sorry. I mean, your father blaming you like that--_

_It was my fault. Do not apologize. It was my fault._

Gods, this kid. I wanted to kiss-- I mean hug him. Woah there, subconscious! I see what you're trying to do here! I sighed. 

"Hey, you homophobic dick," somebody next to the alleyway said, "I know it's okay to pull shit like that in the deep south or whatever, but here, we have a nice little thing called 'human decency'. So cut it out." A gay couple was standing diagonal to me, but I don't think they saw me. Across from them was a middle aged bearded guy who was the most obviously drunk guy I'd seen since New Year's at Jamie's stepdad's house. Gods, that was hilarious. 

"Human decency? You call that human decency? You're disgusting." 

The red haired gay guy laughed. "You really have no idea what love is, do you?" The dark haired guy next to him squeaked, suddenly. 

"You love me?" The ginger nodded without taking his eyes off of his enemy. "Well, I love you too!" Ah, young love. They couldn't have been older than sixteen. 

"Fucking fags." 

"Damn right, we are! Oh, sorry, were you trying to insult me? Do you want me to cry? Would that make you feel better about yourself? Piss off, man." 

The older guy grunted and started to walk off. "Have fun in hell." 

"See ya there, dipshit!" I grinned. I liked it here. It felt like people had a voice. Like good could win here. Hearth scooted around the corner and sat next to me. 

_Pretty weird, right?_ he signed.

_Yeah, I can't believe there's so many people who won't accept that love is love._

_His face became a very specific kind of neutral. Not resting-face neutral, but I-have-done-something-wrong neutral._

_You okay, buddy?_

_Yes._

I raised an eyebrow. _You know it's okay, right? To be gay--_

_I'm not gay._

_Okay, but I'm just saying, it's all okay._

He nodded, but his knees were up by his chest and he kept on signing to himself _I'm not gay. I'm not gay._

_Hey, I have something I want to give you. I think your outfit could use a little bling, so here ya go._

Earlier, I had dug up an old scarf of mine from the bag I had packed. It was a red and white scarf that I thought would compliment Hearth's complexion and his choice of clothing very well. I passed it to him. 

_Thank you._

_Hey, can I try something? It's okay if you don't want to._

This was a very, very bad idea.

He hesitated. _Sure._

I took a deep breath and sat forward on my knees. I looked into his eyes, my first really good look at them. They were blue. Really absurdly blue. Like the sky or the ocean or ice or all three. They were the type of eyes where you looked at them and you could tell right off the bat that they had more stories to tell than there were words to tell them. His nose was pointed and sleek. His cheekbones were sharper than the sharpest exacto-knife you could find. I wasn't used to seeing ears like his, too. The peaked ends of them added to the classy vibe of his face. Everything about him was beautiful.

I lifted my hand and brushed some hair behind his left ear, taking time to brush my hand over his cheek while I did. My palm ended up on the nape of his neck. 

"It's okay if you don't want--" I started to say, but I got cut off by his lips colliding with mine. It wasn't desperate, it wasn't fast. There was no tongue. All it was was a short(ish), innocent kiss. I think it was the sweetest kiss I'd ever shared with someone. After a little while, I'm not sure how long, we stopped.

_I've never done that before._

I gaped at him.

_And you let me be your first kiss?_

_I'm not gay._

_I am._

It was his turn to stare.

We sat in silence again for a bit. Then, without warning, he put an arm around my shoulders. I smiled and melted into his chest. I could have stayed like that for a long time. That was when I heard the screams.


	9. Chapter 9

HEARTHSTONE

Blitz stood up almost immediately after we got comfortable. 

_What is it?_

_Somebody in trouble... C'mon!_

Dutifully, I arose and tailed him throughout the now darkened city until he abruptly came to a halt. We were in an alleyway (a dark, foreboding alleyway. My favorite). There was a child, no older than twelve, crumpled on the pavement like a broken porcelain doll. His hair was short and blonde, his eyes dark brown. From what I remembered of my visions, this human child could grow to be the young man we were meant to be protecting. Blitz crouched to be at his level.

"Hey, are you alright, buddy?"

The kid rolled over and I couldn't see what he said. 

"Well, we'll take care of you... no, we don't have any money... nope... Well, that doesn't mean we can't help you!" The kid kicked him in the abdomen, putting minimal effort into actually hurting him. "Hey!"

The child sat up.

"Why isn't your friend talking? Is he retarded?"

Blitz's eyebrows shot to the sky. I wasn't concerned, though. That was something I got pretty frequently.

"Uh... no, he's just deaf."

"Oh, so he basically is retarded." And here I thought it would be different in Midgard. 

"He's not retarded! Not that it would be a problem if he was. What gives you the right to assume things? Or-- hel-- what even gives you the right to ask somebody that? Especially somebody who's trying to help you!" I didn't understand why he was getting defensive over me. After all, it was just me and I certainly wasn't worth fighting for. My frien-- my... Blitzen was wasting his time. 

_Translate for me._ I signed. _It's okay. I get that a lot. Whether you are kind or rude to us, we are still going to help you. It is the thing to do. My name is Hearthstone. This is Blitzen. What is your name?_

The kid sniffled a few times. "I'm Simon Gray." I glanced at Blitz. He did not look happy about having translated that.

_Do you remember the name of the child we are meant to find?_

Blitz took his time responding. After about a minute of sitting there scratching his head, he sighed. _No._

_He looks like the child in my vision. Do we want to assume this is him?_

_I mean... sure._ He shrugged.

"Hey, kid, we're gonna help you out, okay?"

"Why?"

Blitz shrugged. "Just consider it a random act of kindness. Now, we're gonna figure out a steady source of income and how to get a roof over all our heads and everything is gonna be fine, alright?"

He still seemed a bit on edge, but he was going to help nevertheless. To me, this was quite impressive. 

_Hey. Are you okay?_ He signed to me with that ever persistent concerned puppy look in his eyes. 

_Yes._ Looking at him, I could see that that wasn't enough for him. _As bad as this world may seem to you, it is far better than my home. Remember, this is what I was running to. I made it here. I am happy._

He looked at me quizzically. _If you say so._

"Hey, we're gonna stay here tonight, okay? Tomorrow, Hearth and I will go job-searching."

The kid looked at him with annoyance, rolled over, and went to sleep. I doubted that I would ever understand human children. After that, we went to sleep. Just before I slipped away into my mind, I felt a hand take mine. I squeezed it before drifting off into a deep and dreamless slumber. 

...

I awoke to a child kicking me in the ribs. Memories of the day before came rushing back. I looked up at Simon. 

"You guys said you were gonna go get jobs. You should do that so we can have a house." He kept kicking me.

"Could you quit kicking Hearth?"

"Could you get a job?"

Blitzen got up and promptly socked the kid in the shoulder. Not hard enough to badly injure him, but certainly hard enough to hurt. He started crying. Great. I poked Blitz.

_Translate: we're going to go job searching. Since you're in so much pain, you should stay here. Sorry about that, by the way. Good-bye._

We left. 

_Thanks for getting us out of that._

I lifted the corners of my lips, just barely. _Well, we really do have to get jobs if we're going to survive in this society._

My friend nodded, eyebrows furrowed. _This won't be easy. You know that, right?_

_Yes._

And so, the rest of the day was spent meandering throughout the city (which city was it again?) and "speaking" to people about how to get employed. It was exceedingly difficult. The city itself was fairly nice. There was a lot of homelessness, but aside from that, it was well-kept enough and most people seemed happy. It was filthy, though. For some reason, that was comforting. I guess it was because everything in Alfheim was so perfectly tidy and bright it was painful. It was nice for some contrast. Eventually, we found a sign on a door of an enormous office building that read:

JOB OPENING: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. $12/HOUR

Blitz grinned at me. _This is it! I.T. is a perfect job for you, as long as they allow you to take complaints via email instead of through the phone, you'll be great! Let's go!_

I gawked at him. _Wait... Blitzen, I have no job experience, no societal experience, no experience in this world whatsoever, and I'm disabled! How the hel do you expect that I'll be capable of getting a job here?_

He took my hand and dragged me into the building. I tugged nervously at the scarf around my neck. I don't think Blitz knew how much it meant to me. The only people who had ever given me anything were Andy, Inge, and, now, Blitz. And this scarf... it was beautiful. Imperfect and beautiful and annoyingly lively. This scarf was everything that Blitz was and it was mine. Maybe someday he could be mi--

"Hi. How can I help you?" The person sitting at the desk was a young, round man with apathetic eyes and plump cheeks. I took out my pad. 

_Hello. My name is Hearthstone Alderman. I am deaf and I would like to apply for a job in Information Technology. I can read lips, so you don't need to write things down for me to understand._

He stared at me for a minute. "Uh... right. Okay. Let me get Mrs. Smith down here..." He pressed a button on a small machine. "We've got a job applicant... yeah... okay." He let go of the button. "Here. Fill this out."

It was a form listing things like past job experience, gender, and why I wanted the job. For that one, I just wrote "money". Blitzen laughed at that. I took out a rune and quietly cast it: Swoilo; success, solace. I gave the paper back to the man at the desk, after having filled it out. 

"He's ready for you, Mrs. Smith," he muttered half-heartedly into his machine.

No more than five seconds later, a high-strung looking woman walked briskly into the room. I showed her the same bit that I had written for the man at the desk. She nodded.

"Very good. We like to incorporate diversity into our company here at the Boston Post and having someone like you around will make us look very good on that scale. I'm sure you're a very functional young man and I will be excited to begin working with you. Of course, you'll need to respond to complaints through email, but that should be easy enough." Blitz beamed. "I trust that you know enough about information technology to be applying, so I won't worry about that. Now, I can't really think of any reason not to hire you, so congratulations! You got the job. I'll see you tomorrow at eight! Goodbye, now!" And with that, she waltzed out as quickly as she had entered.

The man sitting at the desk, Paul (according to his name tag), gaped at me. I smiled. Blitz followed me on the way out. 

_Wow... that was... man, good job!_

_Blame the magic, not me._

I held up the Swolio rune. Blitz rolled his eyes.

 _It was still_ your _magic! Accept it: you did well. Okay?_

_Fine._

There was a brief yet potent pause and then-

_Maybe you could also do that for getting us somewhere to live?_

I nodded.

And so, that evening, the very same procedure was performed for getting us free rent for an apartment for the next two weeks. Any more than that and the man would have realized something was up. Besides, I'd have my first paycheck by then. 

_"This_ is the apartment you got us? Really? Do you expect me to thank you?" Simon was starting to get on my nerves.

I sat against the wall, my eyes closed, my world turned off. My mind managed to pester me about Blitzen again. I would choose to believe that he is a friend, seeing how painful it would be to be anything else. It is true that we would be happier, but happier for all the wrong reasons. Love may not be wrong, but this sort of love, sodomy, disgrace, is the ugly, short end of the stick of love. If this is the only way I can love-- not that I was in love with him-- then I would always choose to not love at all than go against everything I knew.

After a while sitting in the darkness behind my eyelids, Blitz poked me. He was looking at me with this beautiful glint of adoration in his eyes, nothing terribly unusual for my friend, but it made my heart stumble a few times before returning to its natural pace.

_Can I show you something?_

I nodded.

_Kid managed to hold onto his laptop. I hacked it and now we can use it. He's fast asleep by now. Wanna watch Game of Thrones?_

_I still don't know what that is._

_I'll take that as a yes._

He already had the first episode pulled up. And so we sat down in the new, empty room, leaning against a wall with a laptop in front of us. When he rolled over and put his head in my lap, I took it as a sign of friendly affection and, more likely, him wanting to see the screen better. I hardly took notice of when I started playing with his hair. 

An hour later, we decided we ought to go to sleep. I laid down in one of the corners and curled up into it. Blitz had gone to sleep next to me. It felt like he was far closer than he probably was. I smiled at my friend and started to drift off. Just as I was crossing the threshold of sleep, just when I thought my friend was already lost in dreams, I felt a kiss, hard and quick, on my lips. It briefly crossed my mind that I should stop putting up with his misplaced sentiments, but instead, I smiled and slipped into dreams.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you think! I hope you liked it, but if you didn't, don't feel like you have to lie about it. You're all wonderful and thank you very much for reading my story. Not sure if I'll continue this, but we'll see how it goes. Have a great day!  
> Also, all the chapter names are songs by an artist who does sad-but-kinda funny songs. I definitely recommend listening to them if you haven't already. Jonathan Coulton is the lyricist and most times, the singer.
> 
> -A.L.


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